"Development and Dreams: The Urban Legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup" considers the effects of South Africa's hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is held that here lies the greatest potential benefit of the 2010 World Cup - a repudiation of Afro pessimism and an assertion of a contemporary African identity both at home and on a global stage.

The contributors to this volume, both academics and practitioners, provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the probable consequences of the World Cup for the economy of South Africa and its cities, on infrastructure development, and on the projection of African culture and identity.

Attention is given to a range of topics including the management, costs and benefits associated with the 2010 World Cup, the uncertain economic and employment benefits, venue selection, and investment in infrastructure, tourism and fan parks.

The contributors then explore the less tangible hopes, dreams and aspirations associated with the 2010 World Cup and interrogate what it means to talk about an African Cup, African culture and identity.

Academics, policy-makers and the reading public will find this book an invaluable companion as South Africa prepares to host the world's largest sporting event.

Visit Development and Dreams: The Urban Legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup Download Page

You can download Development and Dreams: The Urban Legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup in PDF format for FREE.

INTRODUCTION
The FIFA World Cup is the world's largest sporting and media event. FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) has more member nations than both the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations.

The 2006 Football World Cup 'had a total cumulative television audience of 26.29 billion' viewers and the 2010 mega football event is assured of an even greater number of television viewers, not including the increasing use of other media such as the internet and mobile telephones (FIFA 2007). World Cups are extraordinarily profitable for FIFA through the sale of television rights and through its ongoing corporate partners and events-based sponsors. By 2008, these had already ensured that the 2010 ""orld Cup will be 25 per cent more profitable than the 2006 Football World Cup.'

The same, however, cannot be said for host countries and cities. Economic projections are invariably erroneous, overestimating the benefits and underestimating the costs, and there is considerable debate regarding whether World Cups benefit or harm the host country's economy. In the light of the South African government's intention to leverage the World Cup to assist in promoting economic development and halving unemployment by 2014, and taking into account potential alternative uses for the projected R30 billion South African spend on the World Cup (as of March 2008) (Ellgineering News 18 March 2008),3 the debate and the uncertain benefits are issues of some consequence.

Notwithstanding this, the greater potential benefit to the host country and, equally, the greater risk, is less tangible. Germany benefited considerably from hosting the 2006 World Cup insofar as it helped to alter previously somewhat negative international perceptions of Germany to one of the country being perceived as hospitable and welcoming. ...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Udesh Pillay is Executive Director of the Centre for Service Delivery at the HSRC. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Minnesota.

Prior to joining the HSRC, he was Head of the Delimitation and Planning Directorate of the Independent Electoral Commission and prior to that, a senior manager at The Centre for Development and Enterprise. Professor Richard Tomlinson is Chair of Urban Planning in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment